Authorized in 1835 and completed in 1839, Georgia’s Executive Mansion in Milledgeville replaced the earlier Government House and became one of the nation’s finest examples of High Greek Revival architecture. It served Georgia’s governors until the capital moved to Atlanta in 1868, and during the Civil War it was the home of Governor Joseph E. Brown. Beginning in late 1860, it became a setting for pro-Southern celebrations, political speeches, and Brown’s efforts to assert Georgia’s “states rights” within the Confederacy. Those activities ended when Union Major General William T. Sherman entered Milledgeville on November 23, 1864, with about 30,000 troops, including the 14th Corps under Major General Jefferson C. Davis and the 20th Corps under Brigadier General Alpheus S. Williams in the Left Wing led by Major General Henry W. Slocum. Sherman established his headquarters in the abandoned mansion after Brown, his family, state officials, and the legislature fled, and despite destruction elsewhere in Milledgeville, the building was relatively unharmed during military occupation. While there, Sherman directed the next phase of the March to the Sea, beginning on November 25, including a cavalry feint toward Augusta, the destruction of railroad bridges, and an attempt to free Federal prisoners from Camp Lawton near Millen. Near the end of the war Brown and other officials returned, but in May 1865 Federal troops arrested Brown in the mansion and took him to Washington, D.C., where he was briefly imprisoned before President Andrew Johnson pardoned him on condition that he resign the governorship. Since 1889 the Old Governors Mansion has been part of what is now Georgia College & State University, and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.